Auxiliary spring for vehicles.



Patented Mar. 6, 1917.

. 7 I 15- 61 Il T 7 ii II DR lrzveniqi;

flaki I j 3 a M i I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK F. KEELER, or WEST NEWTON, INDIANA,

ASSIGNOR or ONE-HALF 'ro THADDEUS R. BAKER 'OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

AUXILIARY SPRING FOR VEHICLES.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, FRANK F. Keenan, a citizen of the United States, residing at West Newton, in the county of Marion and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Auxiliary Springs for Vehicles, of which the follow mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which I Figure 1 is a front elevation of an automobile equipped with my invention.- Fig. 2 is a top plan view of one of my supplementary springs applied and showing the adjacent parts to which it is applied, and Fig. 3 is a perspective view of oneiof the unattached springs.

Like characters of reference indicate like parts in the several views.

The axle t is supported in the usual manner by the wheels 5, and the axle supports the spring perches 6, 6. A leaf spring 7, attached to the body of the vehicle, is con nected by shackles 8, 8, with the perches '6,all in the usual manner.

My invention consists in the special construction and application of a supplementary spring, or rather a pair of them to the above structure, and as the same is repeated for the leaf spring and axle at the rear of the vehicle, that will be understood without illustration anddescriptio As the supplementary springs are 1naderights and lefts, for the two sides of the vex hicle, but otherwise are the same, I-have shown the assembly of the left front spring,

and will confine my description thereto with. v the understanding that same applies, with]. such m difications as will be obvious,."to the rmnainder f the four springs used i n squirming a vemcle.

' 'tlafty fsupplementary spring is formed out Specification of Letters Patent.-

hook 10 which body from swin Patented Mar. 6, 1917;

Application filed July 20, 1916. Serial No. 110,389.

of a single piece of spring tempered wire. at the which is bent into a coil 9. The wire inner end of the coil is tangentially ex tended far enough to of the perch 6 when upon the head of the extended wire is bent the coil 9 is resting perch, and then the laterally to form a perch, making a close fit so as to hold the coils 9 against the perch head. The other or outer end of the wire is extended tan entially of the coils 9 in direction to form the upper-end of the latter the wire is bent to an upwardly oblique form the coil 12. The free end of the wire 1s extended tangentially of the last-coil, in

a downwardly oblique direction formingthe and then'at right angles to form the arm 14, a little more than the widtl'l of the leaf spring 7 in length, and the end of arm 14 is bent up to form a short hook 15.

In the assembly of my supplementary spring, the hook 10 is slipped under the perch neck as shown, with the coil 9 resting upon and making a fulcrum against the head of the perch; then the remainder of arm 1 the device is bent down by" pressing upon the arm 14 until the latter is below the leaf spring when it is passed under the latter and is released with the spring 7 between the arm 13 and hook 15, as shown in Fig. 2.

In the operation of my device,

reach below the neck goes under the neck of the arm 11, and at the v the sup- I plementary springs absorb the mlnor im pacts by reason of their being more sensitive than the leaf springs and they continue to assist in resisting theheavier impacts. They reduce the swing of the body on the spring-shackles by the holding tendency of the supplementary spring on one side to keep. the body from swinging away from it. Thus the supplementary spring on the left side of the vehicle holds the body from swinging toward the right, and the opposite supplementary spring holds the ging toward the left, and between the two they hold the machine in the road with more certainty.

I claim- 1. The combination with the leaf spring of a vehicle and spring-siilpporting perch,

above the leaf sprmg and holding means on the end of said arm to engage the under side of the leaf spring when the arm is forced down for that purpose.

The combination with a leaf spring; of a vehicle and spring-supporting perch, of a supplen' entary spring having toils hear- ,ing against the top of the porch and a downward hook extension hooking under the perch, an arm extension upwardly from the coil and above the leaf spring until sprained down, holding means on the end of said arm to engage the under side of the leaf spring when the arm is forced down for that purpose, and a coil in the arm between said first coil and said end-holding means.

3. A supplementary spring for vehicles formed out of spring wire bent in a plurality of eonvolutions ffll'li'llllg a coil tangentially from which coil one end of the wire is extended and formed with a. terminal perelrhook, and the other end of which is tangentially extended from the coil in a substantially opposite direction forming an armthe end of which is formed with a leafspring holding member, said arin also having a coil formed therein between said first coil and the other end of the arm.

In witness whereof, I, have hereunto set my hand and seal at Indianapolis, Indiana, this 1st day of July, A. 1). one thousand nine hundred and sixteen.

FRANK F. KEELER. [us] 

